Which merchant account to use?
Aug 15, 2009
in
Small Business Merchant Accounts
I’m looking to start an online business.
And I want to accept payments by Credit Cards.
I would be doing recurring billings too.
But, I’m kinda confused with which service I should use.
I’m based outside the U.S
and 1shoppingcart’s reseller’s website recommends WorldPay
as as International Merchant Account provider.
Then I went to some other shopping cart software’s website
and they state fees from Authorize.net.
What is Authorize.net anyway? Do i need WorldPay and Authorize.net
at the same time?
Can anyone guide me on this?
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2 comments
merchantprof on August 15, 2009 at 11:07 pm
This is all a little confusing…
They are talking about two different services.
You need an ‘Internet merchant account’ and a ‘payment gateway’.
You can get an internet merchant account from one of your local banks, or from someplace like WorldPay
A lot of payment service providers will set you up with a merchant account and a payment gateway. BankDirect is WorldPay’s payment gateway. Authorize.net is another brand of payment gateway, probably the most popular and well supported by shopping carts.
The merchant account is a relationship that you arrange contractually between your business and the banks/Visa that says you can accept credit cards. The ‘payment gateway’ is the tool that you use to actually process payments. It’s analogous to a credit card terminal. Your shopping cart will hook up to the payment gateway.
Your Internet merchant account, and your ecommerce shopping cart will both have a selection of payment gateways they support. You will want to make sure they can both agree on a payment gateway.
rebecca on August 15, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Authorize.Net is a a gateway which works with your merchant account. It’s a US only solution.
Worldpay is a merchant account and gateway combo.
However, you don’t really need a merchant account and gateway to accept credit cards, you can do so via PayPal (or Google Checkout too, if you are in US or UK).
That way you can use any shopping cart that works with these services, like http://www.e-junkie.com/